What Can the Socialist Loss in France Teach the American Liberal/Left?
E.J. Dionne has a terrific column in today's Wash Post wondering what lessons American progressives can cull from the winds of change that are blowing through Europe and elsewhere, (outside of Latin America) bringing conservatives to power even in countries like Sweden where the social democratic left has nearly hegemonic power. The latest loss, of course, was Segolene Royal's to Nicholas Sarkozy in France. EJ ends his column by proposing that perhaps progressives in America have something to teach our brothers and sisters across the ocean, now that it appears that our forces are on the ascendency. Maybe so. But a lot of the same issues that plague European social democracy also plague what we call liberalism in America, or progressive politics, or whatever term we use as part of our American exceptionalism.
